Hot Topics:

Annual South Mountain Fair celebrates 91 years

With carnival rides, farm animal shows and hand-made crafts, the Biglerville event has something for the whole family.

The Evening Sun

Posted:
08/19/2013 07:57:33 PM EDT

Ramona Butt of New Park, Pa., cleans her friend John Bostek s English Leicester sheep Monday afternoon at the South Mountain Fairgrounds. Butt has been showing sheep at the fair for the past 15 years and is the only sheep breeder at the event that owns the rare Karakul breed. The South Mountain Fair opens today at 4 p.m. and continues through Saturday night.

(THE EVENING SUN -- SHANE DUNLAP)

The grounds may have changed a bit since the first South Mountain Fair, but some aspects of the annual event have remained the same over the years.

Keeping with fair tradition, needlework, crafts, baked goods and home canned fruits and vegetables will be showcased during the 91st annual fair, which starts today and runs through Saturday.

Award-winning baked goods will be auctioned off Tuesday with half of the proceeds going toward this year's chosen charity, The American Cancer Society. The always-popular draft horse pull is scheduled to begin at 6:30 p.m. Wednesday.

In addition to all the usual country fair exhibits and shows there will also be carnival rides and games. The rides operate from 6 to 10 p.m. each night of the four-day event with $16 armband specials every night except Friday.

Local kids who have worked through the summer to prepare their farm animals will enter their goats, sheep, swine and beef cattle in a variety of shows. Most of the Youth Shows are set for Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday.

Music has been a keystone of the annual South Mountain Fair for years and this year is no different. Country vocalists and bands will compete to advance to the State Final in Hershey — and potentially to Nashville where the top prize is $100,000 — during the Texaco Country Showdown on Saturday night.

Country musician Richie Fields is set to take the stage Thursday night and Grand Ole Opry star John Conlee will perform Friday. Conlee has had eight number-one songs on national country charts including “Rose Colored Glasses,” “Friday Night Blues,” “Backside of Thirty,” and “Common Man.”

Brittany Jones of Fairfield holds onto one of her pet chickens Monday before setting it in its display cage at the poultry section of the South Mountain Fair. I started keeping pet chickens when I was 16 and it turned into a hobby and I ve been raising them ever since, Jones said. (THE EVENING SUN -- SHANE DUNLAP)

On a local note, area bands can participate in Battle of the Bands on Wednesday. The audience will choose winners.

The events and activities on this year's schedule were made possible, in part, by area volunteers, according to a press release. Community members mowed the grass, moved tables and benches and created the exhibit displays.

“They make the fair happen each year,” the release stated.

Battle of the Bands

Battle of the Bands is scheduled in the South Mountains Fair Auditorium on Wednesday and winners will be chosen by the audience. For more information or to register for the competition, contact Tim Michaels at 717-434-0678.